Meadowsweet is one of the 22 foraged Islay botanicals in The Botanist Gin. It’s everywhere right now on the edges of the island’s roads and fields. It is a fluffy, sweet-smelling plant with grown-up tannins and medicinal complexity, thanks to the salicylic acid it contains.

The almond and cherry flavours beneath the honey give it away as a member of the wider rose family, Rosaceae. Apples, (and roses, obviously) are members of that family, which is what, through the gin, brings this drink together.

For a bit more kick, we added a bar spoon of pineapple weed tincture which was made with fruity organic barley-based spirit, from our whisky stills at the distillery. Pineapple weed Matricaria Discoidea is also known as wild chamomile and again we draw on a family connection - The Botanist is made with sweet chamomile, Matricaria chamomilla.

Foraging Notes

To make the wild rose syrup, we collected a kilner jar full of white and light pink dog rose petals (all parts of the rose are edible), made a simple sugar syrup [1:1], cooled to hand hot, poured over the blooms, and left for 24 hours before straining. Keep in the fridge, unless you want to fortify it to prevent any fermentation.

To make the pineapple weed tincture, we picked a couple of sprigs of pineapple weed from a hay meadow above the distillery, chopped it in a small jar and left it in strong alcohol (69%) for four days, before straining. That was a week ago, and it’s kept its colour well so far... There's a full account of this and other tinctures by our intern Hannah here Beginner's Tinctures >